Voted Best Answer
Apr 22, 2020 - 11:34 PM
Hi there!
That's a nice vehicle to which to aspire, and it's reassuring that you understand this will be an emotional purchase. So let's talk straight-up here:
Very few buyers will get a Wrangler and not take it off-road - that's what it's designed to do, after all. And, with off-road use, any vehicle will take a hammering. Don't be too concerned about lifted Wranglers, though - if the job (and all supporting modifications) was performed properly by a reputable workshop, it should be at least as reliable as a standard one.
However, you have to understand that Jeeps are generally expensive to maintain (especially as they age), mostly because South African-market Jeeps are sourced from Europe (instead of America), which means that many maintenance- and service parts (particularly on diesel-engined examples) are not available cheaply from America. There are plenty of Jeep specialist workshops in SA, though, so you shouldn't battle to find one to take care of it if you don't feel like paying dealership prices.
In an ideal world, you'd have another car for daily duties, to run alongside the Wrangler (which becomes your toy). That way, you'll always have something to drive, even if a problem with the Jeep arises. That's really the best way to run an ageing and high-mileage Wrangler. If you can afford to do this, go ahead and have fun. But if not, you'd be better off saving up for a newer, low-mileage Wrangler instead of trying to run an old one as a daily driver.
Hope this helps!
The AskAutoTrader Team
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